The U.S. Marines and Afghan army plan a massive assault on Taliban fighters in Marja, the last community under Taliban control in a sprawling, lawless region of Afghanistan once dominated by the insurgency, a top Marine said Wednesday. "We are going to gain control," Col. George "Slam" Amland told reporters. "We are going to alter the ecosystem considerably." Amland, deputy commander of Marine forces in southern Afghanistan, would not discuss the timing of the assault or how many thousands of troops would be involved.

The Afghan army warned residents along the Salang Highway to flee their homes because of fierce fighting expected on the vital supply route between Kabul and the Soviet Union, the official Soviet news agency Tass reported Tuesday. With only one week before the last Soviet troops are due to leave Afghanistan under a peace accord, Tass said Muslim rebels battling the Soviet-backed Kabul government are again attacking food and fuel convoys.

The Afghan government reported Saturday that its troops, backed by tanks and artillery, have advanced farther toward the Pakistani border, destroying guerrilla bases and killing 81 insurgents. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Nabi Amani said the Afghan army, on the fourth day of an offensive, advanced two miles and was 32 miles from the border. Amani said government troops are in complete control of Jalalabad and surrounding hills, giving them a strategic advantage over the rebels.

President Obama and Mitt Romney papered over the problems plaguing U.S. efforts to leave behind a stable Afghanistan when NATO combat troops stand down by the end of 2014. And Romney, in essence, endorsed Obama's policies. “We've seen progress over the past several years,” Romney said during Monday's presidential debate. Referring to Obama's decision to add 33,000 U.S. troops, Romney said, “The surge has been successful, and the training program is proceeding at pace.” However, the debate ignored the growing problem of Afghan soldiers turning on those trainers, who include American soldiers.

The Afghan troops who supported the U.S. Marines in the battle to end Taliban control of this town in Helmand province showed marked improvement over last summer's performance in a similar fight but still need much more training, Marine commanders say. Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, the top Marine here, said that overall the Afghan battalions exceeded his expectations. Nicholson said he would give some Afghan units an A-minus or B-plus but that others, particularly those with soldiers fresh from basic training, would get a C-minus or D. The lead Afghan commander, Brig.

The Soviet Union on Sunday completed the withdrawal of half of its troops from Afghanistan, one day before the agreed deadline, the commander of Soviet forces in that country said. Lt. Gen. Boris Gromov, speaking at a press conference in Kabul, the Afghan capital, said that none of his forces remain in 25 of Afghanistan's 31 provinces and that the estimated 50,000 Soviet soldiers still in the country will leave over the next six months under terms of a U.N.-sponsored agreement.

The Marines of Charlie Company had just landed outside Marja and were itching for the fight with the Taliban when they learned that a group of Afghans with shovels and wheelbarrows were digging holes in the road nearby. Were they planting explosives? You could never be certain, but the reconnaissance drones overhead thought so. Approval was given to fire a rocket at the men. The rocket strike caused a thunderous explosion. The men dug their holes no more. "It was pretty motivating," said Cpl. Jonathan Lee, 30, of Orange Park, Fla. -- Before the Marines from the 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment moved to take over a key westbound route to Marja called Five Points, they were given a lecture by a combat lawyer about the rules of engagement, the strictures that determine when it's lawful for a Marine to fire a weapon.

MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan - Congress has appropriated $51 billion to build and sustain the Afghan army, but Lt. Col. Kohadamani Hamidullah can't get his Humvees repaired. "See all those Humvees?" he said inside his military base here in east-central Afghanistan, pointing to a ragged line of dusty Humvees. "Broken. Broken. Broken.... All broken. " The United States has supplied 46 Humvees for Hamidullah's battalion here in the rugged, snowcapped peaks of Wardak province in the last couple of years.

The Pentagon will withdraw about half the 66,000 U.S. troops now in Afghanistan over the coming year, a steep reduction that reflects President Obama's determination to end America's role in the 11-year-old conflict. In his State of the Union address, Obama said 34,000 Americans would be brought home over the next 12 months, and further reductions will continue through the end of 2014, when all U.S. and other foreign troops are scheduled to leave. "American troops will come home from Afghanistan," Obama said.

WASHINGTON -- In his State of the Union speech Tuesday, President Obama will announce plans to withdraw half the U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan over the next year, a steep reduction that reflects his determination to end the American role in the 11-year-old conflict, a senior administration official said. About 34,000 Americans will be withdrawn over the next 12 months and "further reductions will continue through the end of 2014," when nearly all U.S. troops are scheduled to leave, the official said in a statement released by the White House.